J&STAC: November’s New #1 Issues

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-J. Michael Bestul is a writer for the Addison Recorder. Stephanie Ruehl works in a comic book shop. They’re married and have a lot of discussions about comic books and graphic novels. Combine all that into a biweekly feature and you get “J. & Steph Talk About Comics.”

The #1 issue has a tough job: It needs to set the story, to connect you to the characters, and to do it in a scant few pages. We’ve read through a lot of the #1 issues that have hit the stands since our last recap, and weighed in on a few that caught our attention — whether or not they’ve hooked us for issue #2 and beyond.

rasputin#1Rasputin #1

Words by Alex Grecian, art by Riley Rossmo, colorist Ivan Plascencia, letterer Thomas Mauer. Published by Image Comics.

Synopsis: The untold tale of Grigori Rasputin, the infamous advisor to the Romanovs. 

Steph: I tend to pick up most of the first issues of each book that comes through my comic shop, and I base which trades I’ll purchase later on those number 1s, so they have to be engaging. Rasputin was definitely that for me. [Read more…]

Top Ten Under-the-Radar Documentaries Streaming Online

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Image of Kathleen Hanna in The Punk Singer

Kathleen Hanna in The Punk Singer (Allison Michael Orenstein/Opening Band Films)

If you’re a voracious documentary consumer like me, you’ve long since burned through the top-tier, can’t-miss films streaming online. You’ve seen all the hits, like Thin Blue Line, Hoop Dreams and Restrepo and are ready for the deep cuts. HuluPlus and Netflix are ever-growing repositories of documentary goodness, offering everything from Justin Bieber to genocide at the click of a button. But sorting through the huge selection of movies available can be daunting. And let me be frank: there’s a lot of crap out there. Never fear, I’ve done the work for you. Without further ado, here are the ten best under-the-radar documentaries currently streaming.

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Our Month in Popular Culture: December 2014

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We here at The Addison Recorder read stuff. We also watch stuff. And play stuff, even. Sometimes, that stuff is interesting. Sometimes we just need to talk about whatever pop culture ephemera occupies our time. Which brings us to this column. Dumble on.

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the Fifth Line: Thankfulness

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Yeah, this is a holiday synonymous with American football, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be thankful for hockey. After all, when U.S. citizens run rampant over hapless retail employees on Black Friday, you have an excuse to stay home (or hit the bar) — there are almost a dozen NHL games tomorrow, and sixteen NCAA games.

Hockey gives us plenty to be thankful for this season. For example, the Toledo Walleyes of the ECHL channeled Batman on the ice last week:

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“I am the Bat!”

What else? Well, I am thankful…

…that I am not Milan Lucic

The drawback to writing a weekly column is that sometimes, when you think you have a clever idea, someone with a daily blog gets to that idea first. After Boston power forward Milan Lucic got into a heated disagreement with Columbus Blue Jacket d-man Dalton Prout, hilarity ensued: [Read more…]

Addison Recorder Pick ‘Em Week Fourteen – Rivalry Edition

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Welcome to the Addison Recorder‘s football Pick ‘Em column. Each week Alex and a guest writer will predict the outcome of the most intriguing games on the slate. He will try to be as expert as possible, but we make no guarantees for his guests.

It’s rivalry week, so we’re bringing back the guy who has a standing slap bet with Bean about the outcome of The Game between Michigan and Ohio State. Bean deeply regrets this bet placed five years ago, by the way. (Travis holds no such regrets.)

 

Marcus Hall Ohio State Double Bird

Bean knows just how you feel, Marcus Hall.

Michigan at #6 Ohio State

Bean: What’s left to say? This game in Columbus is the end of the Brady Hoke era at Michigan. It has been four years of ridiculous and stupid football. I will not miss it. May next year bring a coach who can…actually coach. This game? On Saturday? Oh, fuck. It will be a slaughter. Last year’s edition looked that way, too, and became an instant-classic decided on a failed two-point conversion with seconds left. That ain’t happening in Columbus. Buckeyes by \infty.

Travis: Oh, the joys that come with slapping another man full in the face. The thrill of the moment. The tension of the wind-up. The sudden uncertainty that besets you as your wayward limb begins its acceleration and ascent – what if I miss? The rush of blood that comes as your hand reaches full extension, fingers splayed, the realization that yes, this slap will happen, and it will be good. The blow. The aftermath, falling away in triumph as your opponent collapses into a whimpering pile. The august joy of victory. Oh, this is a glorious thing. Buckeyes by a Bear Flipping a Table. ʕ•ᴥ•ʔノ ︵ ┻━┻ [Read more…]

Celluloid Obsessions: Whiplash and Birdman

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Image of JK Simmons in Whiplash

Oscar season, like the baseball season I spend much of the year covering, drags on. It’s literally a year-long discussion, and like baseball, has its peak months. We’re entering that stretch now, and it’s an amazing time. Over the next few months, we’ll see a barrage of high quality, high profile “Oscar movies” – a term I dislike because it somewhat discredits (in my opinion) the relative worth of the labeled film as an artistic piece in and of itself. With that being said, my tastes tend to lean towards what might be described as “long shots” – smaller movies with something to say that fall just short of being labeled front runners. (Think Her, Nebraska, and Before Midnight from last year.)

Recently, I’ve taken in two movies that will probably fall by the wayside as the season goes on through no fault of their own, but because they lack the narrative that propels movies like Dallas Buyers Club and the overwhelming weight of 12 Years a Slave.

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Meryl and Christina Discuss Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist

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Image of Beyonce with 'Bad Feminist' written behind her

Meryl and I hung out, ate some soup and drank some wine while talking about Roxane Gay’s kickass essay collection, Bad Feminist. While discussing this book, we fell into many tangents about past relationships and dogs and humor. That’s the awesomeness of the book— it opens up doors and gets you talking.

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Unscripted Moments: EL Stories

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This week’s article is a little bittersweet to write, because it is about a production that is close to me. We are taking a look at Waltzing Mechanics’ seventeenth edition of EL Stories: The New Kids in Town. As a member of this particular production, I wanted to shine a light on the wonderfully talented cast and crew that I have had the pleasure to work and learn from.

To give a little history  Waltzing Mechanics was founded in 2010 by Thomas Murray, Keely Leonard, and Zachary Florent. The Mechanics work “to create original documentary theatre inspired by real people telling stories about their lives. Using methods of performance ethnography, we facilitate dialogues among our audiences and within our communities.” EL Stories is part of that endeavor, and is exactly what it sounds like: stories about being on the EL Train and the other public transportation around Chicago.

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For this interview I sat down with the director of this edition of EL Stories, Rebecca Willett, who provided some insight with her experience on this production. [Read more…]